Not So Charming
by bertiebert
Summary: Martin tried hard for years to find someone who loved him, but only a certain Sky God fit the part.


**Written for the Cabin Pressure fic prompt: **_5 times Martin failed at starting a relationship, and one time he succeeded._

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><p><strong>1.<strong>

Martin, his legs too long, stumbled as he ran. He clutched a flower in his small hand, the petals as red as his hair. He'd found the flower in his mother's garden and thought it perfect for the occasion. Holly, a year older than Martin's seven, sat on the steps of her house, her chin resting in her hands. Martin skidded to a clumsy halt, thrusting the flower out to Holly. He was grinning, still panting from the run.

"This is for you," he told her, his lisp coming out in his young age.

Holly looked at the flower and then at Martin. She grimaced. "Thanks, Martin, but…"

Martin cut her off. "Would you be my girlfriend?"

"No, Martin. Sorry."

The sadness was evident on Martin's young face. Ginger curls spilled over onto his forehead as he watched his feet, walking away. He still held the flower in his tight grasp. He'd give it to his mum when he got home; she loved red flowers.

**2.**

David was the new kid in Martin's town. He had dark hair and bright green eyes. Everyone wanted to be his friend, the girls often swooning over him in the halls of school. He was from America, a foreign land to most teenagers of England. Martin, still a gangly at fifteen, watched David laughing with the group of kids that had formed around him. He looked dejectedly back into his locker, taking out his books. He slammed the locker closed and walked away with his head down when the group erupted into more laughter.

It was almost a week later that Martin realized his attraction to David. Though it confused and terrified him, Martin couldn't help what he said when he dropped his books in the hall and David stooped to help pick them up.

"Would you go out with me?"

Blood rushed to Martin's cheeks, the blush then spreading to his ears and neck as David stared at him.

"I don't swing that way, man."

Martin spent his next class in the boy's bathroom, fighting tears. The next day, Martin knew David and his friends were laughing at him in the hall.

**3.**

Uni should have been Martin's ticket to finally having a relationship, but no dice. At a party in the early weeks of Martin's second year, he'd been particularly drunk when he'd overheard a couple talking of a possible threesome that night. Thought it wasn't the kind of relationship Martin had been hoping for, he approached them nevertheless. His speech was slurred and he swayed quite a bit, but he knew he'd gotten his point across when they both turned away in half disgust, half amusement. Martin went back to his room alone that night and nursed the worse hangover he'd have in his entire life the next day.

**4.**

Aviation school was the highlight of Martin's life at twenty-six. He was working on his fifth try at his license when he met Maggie. She was from Ireland, had curly red hair and a smattering of freckles across her face. She was nice enough to Martin in their classes and it gave Martin a reason to believe he had a chance.

The day of the license test, Martin decided it was the day he would ask Maggie to be his girlfriend. He was trying the red flower approach again, only this time it was a rose. He stepped into the classroom where the students waited to take their tests to find Maggie and another student, now pilot, Victor kissing and touching very obscenely in one of the chairs. Martin bolted, unable to hold back the tears of frustration and anger. He left the rose on a table in the student café, not caring who took it.

**5.**

At twenty-nine, Martin was already learning that it helped to have a favorite pub after someone shot you down for either a job as a pilot, a job moving furniture, or a relationship. But if you were already in your favorite pub when you ventured out for any of the three, you might as well find a different pub.

A particularly handsome man sat at the bar, nursing a beer as he watched the live rugby game on the telly. Martin watched him from across the pub, the way his Adam's apple bobbed as he took a drink of beer, his friendly smile as the bartender commented on the game or got him another drink. The list went on as Martin studied the stranger. It wasn't until he had a few drinks of his own and talked himself into it did Martin get up and walk over to the man.

"Who do you want to win?"

The man turned, eyeing Martin cautiously. "Scotland. You?"

Martin paled. "Scotland," he forced out.

"You don't look or sound very Scottish," the man said. "You a first generation English or something?"

Martin gave up then. He shook his head and mumbled, "Sorry to bother you," before he left the pub quickly.

**And One Time…**

Martin bit his lip, his cheeks turning pink as he leaned in for a kiss. The mouth that met his was warm and though the lips weren't exactly soft, it was a perfect kiss. He pulled back, a little surprised, and stared into the dark eyes in front of him. Douglas smiled at him, his hands coming up to frame Martin's face delicately. The older man leaned in to steal another soft, slightly tentative kiss from Martin. The kiss was sweet and a little wet as Douglas slipped his tongue past Martin's lips. The younger man let himself be lowered onto the hotel bed. It wasn't the nicest hotel, but the only thing that mattered was that Douglas was kissing him. When Douglas pulled away to presses warm, open mouthed kisses to Martin's jaw and neck, it gave Martin a chance to pull needed oxygen in at last.

"We don't have to have sex," Douglas said, his lips still pressed firmly to Martin's pulse point.

"Douglas," Martin practically whined. "I've waited thirty-four years for someone to kiss me. I'd really enjoy it if you'd help me accomplish another milestone tonight. Douglas, I need you."

A smile tugged at Douglas's lips. "I'd love to."

Clothes were tossed to wherever they saw fit to land while heated kisses were shared. Douglas, oddly enough, produced a condom and travel-sized bottle of lube from his toiletry kit. He kissed Martin back down onto the bed, parting his thighs, and swallowing Martin's gasps and breathy moans.

Douglas drew lazy circles on Martin's back, the sweat there beginning to cool. He looked down at Martin, his head pillowed over Douglas's heart. The sleepy way Martin blinked made Douglas smile adoringly. He left a tender kiss on Martin's forehead, which drew Martin's face up to look at the older man.

"How long have you been waiting for me to realize I was madly in love with you?" Douglas asked, bringing his hand up to tangle in Martin's gingery hair. It stuck up with sweat and gave him an adorably disheveled look.

"Since a month after I started working for MJN," Martin confessed, his cheeks coloring bright red. "You took a particularly rocky landing, and you were so calm and collected. I envied you for it but I also fell in love with you because of your bravery. I was new to flying. I put it down to just being a crush, but then it progressed and I realized that I really wanted you. I knew you'd been married and were married at the time, so I never acted on it."

Douglas leaned down, simultaneously tilting Martin's head up, and snogged the young man within an inch of his life. There were no complaints from Martin as he was released and Douglas spooned against his back. Martin had finally found someone and he knew both of them were in it for the long run.


End file.
